In a back and forth affair where both teams left it all the field, the Idaho Vandals (4-5) made one last play to upend UND by a score of 31-27. The loss leaves the Hawks with a 5-4 record and in a must-win scenario over their last two games. Next up is Portland State (4-5) at home this Saturday.

Thunder Lake Lodge

This loss now officially puts the Hawks in a group that they didn’t want to be in – the “possible 7-4 teams” that need to hope the committee likes them more than the other 7-4 teams.

Game Highlights

Brady Oliveira Touchdown Run

This was picture-perfect blocking by the offense to spring Oliveira around the end for the long TD run.  Coming into the game we knew the Hawks could attack the perimeter on the Vandals and this play showed how it could be done.  Nice pull by center Patric Rooney to pick the safety and spring Brady.

Idaho Punt Block For Touchdown

I have been trying to breakdown the punt block for awhile now. Idaho has five guys on the right side of the ball (their right). UND has three. The end guy for UND doesn’t block, which has to be a mistake. So now two guys are coming free. Austin Cieslak is the left up-back in the wall – as near as I can tell he should have blocked left to pick up the inside rusher of the two that were coming free (maybe catching a piece of the outside rusher as well). Anyway you slice you it UND was outnumbered on that side. It was either a miscommunication (like what happened vs Montana) or they just didn’t block it correctly.

The end result is it cost UND the game, a game in which they were in complete control of by a score of 27-17 with only eight minutes left.

Let me clarify why I think the punt block cost them the game. There are 140-150 total plays in a game roughly.  The offense and defense are both going to have ebbs and flows, ups and downs.  The one constant, at least in my mind, is special teams.  Most games go by the book when it comes to special teams – punt it, they fair catch it or get a small return – kickoff and tackle them around the 25 – return a kick to the 25-30, etc.  One big play might pop, sure. But allowing a punt block for a TD should be a once every 2-3 year type of an event. If that. So when it happens at a crucial part of the game it can easily be classified as “costing a team the game”. UND has now had THREE punts blocked this year.

Injuries were a major, major issue yesterday but not the reason they lost.  The Hawks lost star WR Noah Wanzek to what appeared to be a concussion type deal when he hit the ground hard. WR Garrett Maag, who then became their #1 WR, pulled his hamstring badly on a late post route and left the game. We would be shocked if Maag is available this week. RB James Johannesson hurt his foot early in the third quarter and never came back in the game. This led to Oliveira becoming the workhorse and taking all the reps the rest of the game.  Also, it appeared that OLB captain Tanner Palmborg may have reinjured his knee on a similar type of non-contact cut.

The offensive line struggled more than not on Saturday and probably played one of their poorer games of the year.  The pass protection, which had been rock steady all year suddenly became porous.  They allowed four sacks and numerous hurries.  The OL had only allowed 8 sacks all season coming into the game. We noticed that Nate Nguon was playing LT early in the game but starter Bennett Helgren came back in later in the game when Nguon got hurt (temporarily).

The Hawks offense only ran for 172 yards according to the box score but they lost 34 yards on that last play where QB Nate Ketteringham ran backwards to avoid the pressure. So it wasn’t a poor day running the ball but it wasn’t nearly as good as it should’ve been.

The Vandals added a wrinkle on defense that we have not seen yet this year vs. UND. On the toss play that the Hawks love to run the Vandals would run a safety up into the box to the wide side of the field and blitz him off the edge. It prematurely cut off the path of Oliveira/Johannesson making them cut it up sooner than they wanted, which didn’t allow for the blocking to get setup. If the toss went to the boundary it may have had greater success at times, not 100% sure, though.

Idaho had 378 yards of total offense with 277 coming through the air via QB Mason Petrino.  Petrino was illusive all day and gave UND problems up front even though he was pressured quite a bit. UND sacked him three times but weren’t consistent enough overall to take over the game.

From the start of the 2nd quarter til the very last TD with 27 seconds left the Hawks defense only gave up 3 points. They actually played pretty well after giving up 14 first quarter points. UND had a few chances on that last drive to end it but couldn’t make the big play on fourth down or recover the strip sack fumble that was forced by Evan Holm.

The UND defense was aggressive at times, forcing three fumbles and recovering two of them but was so inconsistent. The secondary play was not where it was earlier this year and hasn’t been for a few weeks now. Not sure why but the big plays on the ball while its in the air are not happening lately. The effort is there but the results aren’t is the best way to put it.

The big three on the defensive line were a bit quiet on Saturday.  Mason Bennett, Austin Cieslak, and Tank Harris combined for only 3 total tackles, 1 sack, and 1 TFL.

Well, now it’s truly nut-cutting time in Grand Forks.  7-4 can certainly get them in the playoffs but they may need some help. Sam Houston State lost again to drop to 5-4 so that hurts the resume. Montana won to go to 5-4 so that helps the resume a bit.  UND needs Montana to run the table and hope that UND gets selected over them/with them based on the blowout win.

Beat the Vikings this weekend or it won’t matter.

 

Photo courtesy of The Lewiston Tribune.